of me.”
He raised her hand and kissed it. “Let us spend the rest of the day doing better things than talking about this. We will go someplace where you can smile and laugh and be Minerva Hepplewhite. Only Minerva Hepplewhite.” He smiled. “I’ll even go shopping with you if you want.”
“I was planning to order a new ensemble. Perhaps you know of a good modiste.”
“I know of one or two, so that is what we will do.”
They strolled through the gardens and back to where he had left his horse. He hired a carriage and tethered the horse to it, then climbed in with her. She hoped that this modiste would take the commission based on her expectations. He appeared so pleased with his idea that she didn’t want to ruin it by being practical, however.
* * *
“It was an exorbitant self-indulgence.” Minerva voiced her thoughts while the carriage took them toward her house. The self-scold could not blight the fun of buying not one, but two ensembles. She smiled whenever she thought about it.
“It was not a self-indulgence at all,” he said. “The owner of Hepplewhite’s Office of Discreet Inquiries requires a suitable wardrobe. It was a pity you did not order that dinner dress as well.”
“It was too expensive.”
“You forget that you are an heiress now.”
“You should not have told Madame Tissot that. It was very bad of you.” The modiste had been merciless after learning that, tempting her with luxuries. Like that dinner dress.
She saw that dress in her mind. Raw silk with a subtle shimmer, the hue reminded her of primroses. Pearls bedecked the neckline and waist, and more discreetly studded the lower skirt’s floral embroidery. The cost of it all would have left her too dependent on her expectations, however, and for a dress she might never wear.
“The wool ensembles will be enough for now,” she said. Their purpose, and rationale, had her mind returning to her inquiries. She tucked away the one she had pursued today, and raised another.
“I never had a chance to tell you, but something was revealed to me at Melton Park by a servant,” she said.
She repeated what the servant Joan had said to her, about being on the roof and seeing and hearing someone. “She said she could not swear to it, but I think that was her way of trying to avoid ever being asked to.”
“It might have been another servant, of course.”
“It might have been, but I do not think it was. Do you?”
“I don’t know yet. Nor do you. It is one more piece of information that might one day form a link in a chain, however.”
“Something to note in your portfolio, you mean. To put on a list.”
“Yes. The possible evidence list, not the secure facts list.”
They had almost reached her house. He made the coachman stop two streets away. When he turned back to face her she knew they would no longer speak of investigations.
He reached over and lightly caressed her face. “I want you to come to me, Minerva. Send me a note first if you like, but pay a late call, or an early one, or anytime you want. We can sit and talk or go out about town again, if you like. We will do this however you want, darling, and at no time should you ever feel obligated, even by your own words or agreement.”
He told the coachman to move on. A few minutes later the coach stopped at her own door. He jumped out and turned to hand her down. She gazed at his face, and at that hand reaching toward her. She screwed up her courage and leaned out. Before stepping down she quickly kissed him.
He smiled and helped her down. “Beth is watching from the window.”
She looked past him and saw the bright white cap at the glass.
“Her son is watching from the garden alley.”
She noticed Jeremy’s blond hair amidst the shrubbery beyond the garden portal. “I suppose I may have some explaining to do.”
At the door she looked back to see him untying his horse from the carriage. She remained out there, watching, until he rode down the street and the carriage went on its own way. Then she went inside, to have what would probably be a long talk with the only two people she had dared trust for five years.
Chapter Sixteen
Foils whistled. Men lunged. From behind his mask Chase eyed his opponent. Dark eyes peered back.
They had been at this for close to an